by Michael J. Crosbie

When you hear the words "academy of sciences" what do you think of? Musty rooms with dark wood paneling and overstuffed furniture? Curio cabinets filled with microscopes and specimens in formaldehyde? This isn't the image that the New York Academy of Sciences wanted its headquarters to project.

Instead, the academy's new home at 7 World Trade Center is a colorful, dynamic environment that sets the 190-year-old institution on a trajectory into the future. It welcomes visitors with a generous, wood-lined lobby that is anything but stuffy. The 40,000-square-foot (3,700-square-meter) interior was designed by H³ Hardy Collaboration Architecture, the third firm founded by its principal, architect Hugh Hardy.

In a pioneering move, the New York Academy of Sciences was the first tenant to lease a full floor of the 7 World Trade tower, designed by David Childs of SOM, one of the first new buildings constructed on the World Trade Center site since September 11, 2001.   >>>

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New York Academy of Sciences headquarters by H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture. Photo: Mark LaRosa 7 World Trade tower, designed by David Childs of SOM. Photo: Ruggero Vanni   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.